Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
🧑‍🔧 To summon help 📞 To phone a place 🔙 To demand return 🏠 To visit briefly
to call in

to call in

117 3.2
Phone a place like an office or radio show to give information
  • phrasal verb
  • /kɔl ɪn/
translation icon : llamar
  • They profile fugitives on the run and then ask viewers to call in with tips.
  • call in sick

This is Max Frost calling in from Sydney, Australia.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • Among those participants who registered for a live session, many participants chose this option and called in through their phones.

    Academic text (2015)

  • This is Max Frost calling in from Sydney, Australia.

    Theo Von

  • And that week we did the show and she called in to tell the story.

  • What if a driver calls in sick?

    Midnight in the Switchgrass (2021)

  • If you go to the store, call in and let your duty officer know.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • Somebody called in to report a discharged firearm on the premises.

    The Kate Logan Affair (2010)

  • When you work for a medical firm, you can't call in sick.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • You can ask other listeners to call in to answer callers' questions.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • Hi guys, this is Caroline calling in from Gaithersburg, MD.

  • If you have any questions, please call in to our customer service hotline.

Synonyms

to call
vsto call in
∞ 1.0

To phone someone to speak with them

focuses on contacting an organization by voice specifically to give information
to call up
vsto call in
209 2.5

To phone someone

is used to provide information or to report to an official place
to phone
vsto call in
204 1.0

To call someone by telephone

is usually made to inform or report to a workplace or station
to make a call
vsto call in
93 1.0

To phone someone

is mainly aimed at informing or reporting to an office or station
to telephone
vsto call in
20 1.0

To call someone to speak with them

is done specifically to inform or report to an organization or workplace
to dial in
vsto call in
8 3.9

To connect to a meeting by entering a code, or to set something exactly

is about contacting an organization to give information, not joining by code

How Direct

to call in
117 3.2
to phone
204 1.0
email
  • Texting
724 1.0
to send a message
  • Informal
81 3.4

Surface Forms

call in infinitive
called in past
called in past participle
calling in present participle
calls in third person singular

Morphology

call + in

The sense 'to pay a short visit' is directly built from 'call' (a visit/make a visit) + 'in' (toward/inside), following a common English verb+particle compositional pattern. This relation is cross-linguistically common and predictable, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent meanings will very likely infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

Call in comes from the simple idea of using the phone to call in to a place, such as a radio studio or your office, to give information or report something. That's why it means 'to telephone a place'.